Notebooks run much cooler today than in times past
I get to play with so many notebooks and netbooks that I feel I get a pretty good picture of the technology used for these mobile computers. One of the areas in which notebook technology has taken a big leap in a short period is in the area of thermal engineering. It wasn’t that long ago that an important thing to consider about a new notebook model was how hot it got when running for a length of time. You probably remember those articles that surfaced describing how road warriors ran the risk of a low sperm count due to having hot notebooks in their laps for extended periods. My how times have changed in this area.
I was futzing around in my office today with several netbooks and notebooks and it struck me how long it has been that I even thought about how hot a notebook got while running. One of the reasons that notebooks were always big and thick in the past was to allow them ample room for air circulation, otherwise the notebook would get too hot to run safely. That doesn’t seem to be a factor any longer, and I’m no engineer so I have no idea why that might be, but it’s definitely the way things are. Thermal engineering has definitely improved by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years, and we’re seeing the results of that advancement across the entire notebook space.
The buzzwords in the notebook arena are no question “thin” and “light”. We are seeing thin and light notebooks being produced by all the major players in the notebook space and are even starting to see them cross over into the uber-small netbook area. These notebooks are so thin and small that there can’t be much room inside the devices for air circulation, so it’s obvious that other strides in heat dissipation have come to fruition. These strides are the primary reason, component size aside, that it is possible to make small, thin notebooks that run cool enough.
I’m sure that processor advances account for some of this; they obviously run much cooler than earlier models did. That alone can’t account for the advances, though, as other notebook components that are heat generators are largely the same. We have pretty much the same hard drives as we had in the past, and we even have more memory in today’s laptops than in years past.
I can’t remember the last time I tried a notebook that felt too hot to use safely. Even netbooks with small forms run cool, and I never even think about heat when I evaluate them. This is why OEMs are releasing thin notebooks right and left, and if you pay attention, you rarely hear reviewers discuss heat. It is just a non-issue these days, which is wonderful.
So why is this? I’m interested to hear from those who know about these things what has improved heat dissipation so that it’s something we consumers don’t think about? I’m sure that notebook designers think a lot about this — I don’t want to imply they don’t — but what is it in their hard work in this area that is working so well? Inquiring minds want to know.
My MSI Wind U100 can run pretty warm at times. Its fan automatically increases speed incrementally after core temp hits 120F. Fan speed kicks up a notch at 130, 140 and 150F. The hottest core temp recorded by SpeedFan utility has been 156F. So the blower fan in this netbook is the primary cooling mechanism. BTW, using a infrared temp gauge the highest outside surface temp I found was 103F near the trackpad, but most surface areas remain in the low 90s. Also, I have notices most of the bigger notebooks (Macbook 17″ etc.) have 2 fans to keep’em cool. I wonder what all those monster gaming notebooks use? (maybe heatpipes coupled w/fan or two or more)
My 2730p gets really hot when it’s plugged in, sometimes to the point where it worries me or I can’t hold it in slate mode. It’s nice and cool on battery though.
possible answers(in no particular order):
1. James you have used so many laptops that u have just become used to the heat they give. ie u have built up tolerance for them. same for people who have to use them all the time ie road warriors. i have seen people who use desktops unable to tolerate the laptop heat even on the coolest latops
2. new generation cpu produce much less heat as direct result of the amount of energy they use. hence the more energy u use the more u have to dissipate in the form of heat. also they are now they are designed to keep in mind their
I have the MSI Wind and the Kohjinsha SC3 and have to say that they don’t get very hot to where you might say this is to hot. I even use the MSI Wind as desktop connected to my 22″ LCD BT Keyboard, and BT mouse and keep the lid closed on it and the MSI Wind only gets warm and not very hot. I do hear the fan go on when I have the lid closed, but I feel it just in case gets to hot I would open the lid. This newer CPU’s use less wattage which is good and is helping keeping the heat down. I remember having the Fujitsu Tablet and that was one very hot tablet. I would even think it wasn’t normal but it was. The only reason you didn’t feel the heat as much was because Fujistu puts these pads under neath in the areas where the heat is so you won’t feel the heat as bad.
I am constantly surprised by just how cool my Toshiba Portege M700 runs; it is the main reason I ditched my Fujitsu Lifebook which was melting my furniture not to mention my lap.
You haven’t used the hp tx2-1099eg tablet. When under normal load (e.g. Vista’s Search Indexer running), it gets easily to 85°C (185°F). And in addition to the heat, you get the noise-level of a hair-dryer.
It’s been my experience that AMD processors run much hotter than Intel’s. Most notebooks I have used with AMD inside get much warmer than similar Intel-equipped notebooks.
Yeah at the moment AMD processors seem to be hotter and less energy efficient than their Intel counterparts.
Personally I don’t think the heat issue is at a good level yet, but it’s better than before.
My HP 2133 gets nice and toasty hot. And it’s not *that* old
The 2133 does run warmer than most notebooks/ netbooks. It uses the older Via processor which is not energy efficient. My evaluation of the 2133 didn’t see it getting really hot, just fairly warm.
My Lenovo Thinkpad X200 tablet runs so cool that I can use it directly on my lap and I don’t notice any heat from it. It’s amazing, considering that it has a 7200 RPM hard drive and that it’s so thin.
Tell me about it James. My HP zd7000 has been a great space heater, but any notebook that uses desktop processors is like that – darn hot.
Intel have gone a long way with their mobile C2D lineup to deal with the heat problem. The next big step is getting that same heat under control from mobile GPU cards, which if you’ve ever used an SLI notebook, will know what I mean.
As for design, notebooks still can be found built thick. The Toshiba Qosmio X305 series sit 2.5 inches high off the table, but that a testament to the excellent thermal design which keeps everything not only cool but does that quietly.
I’ve gone through a lot of notebooks these past six months, and if you keep up with my reviews on my blog, you’ll see that I also examine heat on every notebook I get my hands on.
The best evidence for the -still- low efficiency of current CPU families is that most laptops -still- need forced cooling by means of at least one fan! So, how long will it take when most laptops are fanless?
Lenovos seem to be the best in terms of running cool. They have spent much time engineering better fan and cooling systems. Unfortunately Lenovos still aren’t much to look at, and I think the workmanship quality has gone down recently.
Intel has moved quickly since pentium 4, with process shrinks and architecture changes including power saving technologies that were very lacking before. Dual core also helps since you can cut down frequency and VCore. Only its chipsets are still hot and that will improve when graphics are incorporated into the CPU. Arrandale later in 2009 should be a big step forwards.
i don’t know jk. Those new macbooks can get pretty got when they’re plugged in.